Mellark Family Christmas - One Shot
by everlarklove322
Summary: See what happens when Christmas rolls around for Katniss, Peeta, Willow, and Rye. (Fluff)


Mellark Family Christmas

Katniss Mellark was a normal woman. Sure she had survived the Hunger Games twice, and sure she had started a rebellion that led to the downfall of a government, but as far as Katniss was concerned, she was a normal woman, about to have a normal Christmas with her family. There were only four of them: Katniss, of course, Peeta, their eight year-old daughter, Willow, and their five year old son, Rye. Today was Christmas Eve, even though it was only the morning, and they were about to decorate their tree.

Katniss sighed. She had always wanted a tall evergreen tree to stand in their house, a fantastic one, with bright blue, purple, and yellow ornaments. However, the Mellarks' tree wasn't exactly fantastic, and was not at all what Katniss had had in mind. In fact, it was pretty sad. A little fir tree, standing at four feet tall. When Rye ran up to it in the forest and wrapped his arms around it, Mr. and Mrs. Mellark were quick to exchange skeptical glances, but Rye had wanted it so much. So, they chopped it down and took it home. Katniss smiled when she remembered just how enthralled Rye had been with the little tree.

As Katniss thought about this, she heard giggling from the kitchen, and walked in to see Peeta and Willow baking. "Hey." Peeta looked up at her with his usual kind smile. It was one of the things Katniss loved about Peeta. After everything he had been through, after everything he had seen, Peeta was so kind, all the time, and he was still the gentle boy with the bread from so many years ago.

"Hey." Katniss replied, walking in and hugging Willow. "What are you two up to?" Peeta and Willow were both definitely the troublemakers of the family, and they almost always were up to something together. Peeta pulled Katniss's waist into his arms, and kissed the temple of her forehead. "Baking cookies for tonight. What are you up to?" He asked.

"Just thinking about Rye and our tree." Katniss said with a slight laugh. "When are we decorating it?" Willow inquired. "When we're done with these cookies." Peeta answered. Willow grinned and quickly went back to rolling out dough. "I can do this by myself, Daddy. You and Mommy can go and wrap some presents." She assured them. "Okay. We'll be down soon." Peeta announced, and together, Katniss and Peeta walked out of the kitchen and up the stairs.

"Let's get to wrapping." Peeta said, leaning against to the table. Katniss sat down and pulled out a set of little cookie cutters, one of the presents she'd gotten for Willow. She picked up the bright green wrapping paper that sat beside her, and began to wrap the present. Peeta chuckled. "That's not how you do it." Katniss turned around and scowled. "Okay, then how exactly do you do it?"

Peeta walked closer and wrapped his strong arms around Katniss and put his gentle hands on the wrapping paper folding it with expertise. Katniss turned around and despite her biggest efforts to not smile, she looked down and let the corners of her mouth tug up. Within a minute, Peeta was done. "Do you want to do all of them?" Katniss asked sarcastically. Peeta laughed and pulled her into a kiss. "I'm good."

When all the presents were finished, Peeta and Katniss walked back downstairs, and saw Willow and Rye sitting under the little fir tree. "Time to decorate?" Rye asked. Katniss nodded. Peeta opened their box of ornaments, and set them out next to the tree.

"I don't know how many of these are going to fit on the tree. He admitted, scratching his head. Willow and Rye giggled and stumbled over to the box, grabbing whichever ornaments they could find. "Be careful!" Katniss scolded them. Peeta pulled out one too, a little green and orange ball.

"Remember this one?" Peeta asked Katniss, and the memories of their first Christmas floated back into Katniss's mind. How long ago was it? Ten years? Twenty? She honestly couldn't remember, but she remembered the two of them decorating the ball. Peeta, with his nimble fingers, painted his side perfectly, while Katniss got frustrated after three minutes, and smudged her side all over.

She remembered Peeta smiling, telling her how beautiful it looked. Katniss snorted, looking at her side compared to his side. She didn't want to believe that he actually thought her side was beautiful, but the way he said it, his voice so honest and pure, Katniss had to believe Peeta was telling the truth, and she was truly grateful.

"I remember that one." Katniss said, longingly. "You can hang it." Peeta said, handing it to her. Katniss took it into her hand, and placed it in the middle of the tree. This continued for almost an hour, until the tree had absolutely no more space. "There. Perfect." Willow said, standing back.

"Okay then. More Christmas cookies?" Peeta asked and all the Mellarks trumped into the kitchen. They spent hour after hour in the kitchen making so many cookies they drowned in them. When it was time to go to bed, the kids fell asleep right away, while Mr. and Mrs. Mellark laid awake for hours, recounting memories of each other, of Willow and Rye, of anything that made them smile. After Peeta finally fell asleep, Katniss sat next to him, studying his face. She studied his soft, tan skin, his blonde hair, and his pink lips that she knew so well. As her eyes fluttered closed, she had time to whisper one sentence before falling into a trance of sleep. "Merry Christmas."


End file.
